Arturo Lomasa
Eldest son of the line of Iagu Lomasa, Arturo has succeeded his father as head of that line following his father's death in 624. Now a Count, he is known to rule over 3 keeps (River Turn, Orana's Glade) and 1 township (Light's Bounty). He previously ruled over an additional keep and township, the Castle of the Hours an Silver Havens respectively, but he gave the former to his youngest sister Dianna Lomasa and the latter to Farrel Lomasa in the year 627 ATA. With his wife, Jahna Nillu, he lives with his own children and two wards, his niece Anys and a young girl named Opal, rumored to be half-Seamel. History: Born and raised within the chief of his father's three keeps, Arturo Lomasa was brought up with a mingling of Lomasa joviality and the impending weight of rule. The eldest of 4 sons, he fashioned himself as the self-appointed protector of his younger siblings, particularly the baby of the family, Dianna Lomasa. His two older sisters were married off in time, one for love and one to seal a friendship with a neighboring family. With their departure, Arturo took on even more of the role of elder brother over the five younger siblings who remained, a good training for the young heir. Under the tutelage of "Feathers", the family's faithful falconer of many years and a favorite of all the children, Arturo learned to wield a weapon for the day he might have to lead his family in battle. But no Lomasa education would be complete if limited to weaponry. Partly under the tutelage of his mother, Arturo learned the required gifts of dance and deportment to properly represent the Lomasa line in parties and festivities. Fondest and stormiest both of his relationships is that to Dianna, the youngest of the siblings and the one who most triggered his protective nature. Over-protective, she would sometimes say. Very close as they grew up, their relationship strained somewhat when she entered her teen years, and moreso when she began to accept the attentions of one Adaer Kahar, a man of whom her eldest brother did not approve. Her father, however, saw the dual opportunity of pleasing his love-struck daughter and forging a closer relationship with the Kahar line, and at age of 18 his daughter was married to the Kahar against her brother's wishes. Almost he didn't come to the wedding, but in the end he went, and wished her happiness. Life went on for him after Dianna's marriage, with more training for his eventual ascension to the headship of the family line, and more attempts by his mother to find a suitable woman to marry her ever older son. Arturo watched his younger brothers begin to spread out, the eldest joining the Emperor's Blades and the middle brother entering the priesthood while the youngest remained at home, kept closer than he liked by a mother who knew the last of her sons would soon be going off to seek his own fortune. Perhaps seeking to make up for what he saw as a failure to protect Dianna from a marriage he viewed as a mistake, Arturo closely defended the remaining sister against every attempt of his mother to arrange a suitable marriage, the sister defending Arturo's singleness in turn till their mother threw up her hands and suggested they might as nearly marry each other, for neither would find a mate suitable. A good life began to turn more upside down as Dianna was accused first of adultery, and then of the touch of the Shadow. Rumors of rising war only added to his concerns, as they weighed on his father as well. Seeing his son's mood turning darker with care, Baron Iagu Lomasa chose to attempt to focus Arturo's attention on a new charge, placing him in early 624 as master of the smallest of the three keeps under his care, River's Turn Keep, once the pride of Gulman Lomasa, but passed to Iagu's father Petrarcas after the last heir of Gulman's line died childless. Along with governance of the keep came a birthday present, an heirloom in the form of the great axe known as Humlek's Hand, anciently the favored weapon of Gulman's ancestor Humlek, a patriarch of Northwatch. While River Turn did prove a good training ground for the young Viscount, it failed to protect him from the gathering storm, most of which continued to center around Dianna. The year 624 proved an epic one for Arturo, seeing his sister first divorced, then believed dead, then reappeared, then arrested, imprisoned, released, and then exiled. During the course of all this, Arturo was thrown into conflict with both his formerly favorite Uncle Sinon and Markus Vozhd-Kahar, as well as a continued hatred for Adaer which eventually culminated in Arturo being banned from Vozhdya with threat of possible exile by the Emperor after an incident of near-bloodshed between himself and his men and the Vozhd. While his sister's exile and the Emperor's intervention cooled down that visible conflict, these were far from the only major events of the year for Arturo. 624 saw Arturo and his personal bodyguards, the Nine, fight valiantly in defense of the keep of then distant cousins Warlan Lomasa and Damiante Nillu against a Wildling invasion. The Nine showed themselves a force to be reckoned with in the battle, slaying more Wildlings than any other formation present except the Bramblestone Irregulars, and doing so with only three casualties. Arturo himself, like fellow captain Varal Mikin, was beset by five wildlings simultaneously, felling two before falling to the attacks of the remaining three. Only the skill of the Royal Healer Rowena Mikin was credited with saving the young Viscount. In less life-threatening events, 624 also saw Arturo compete at the Aerie Heights Tournament, losing badly to more experienced jousters but winning a measure of aclaim from the crowd for his good sportsmanship and willingness to compete. The latter part of the year saw his sister returned from her exile after the discovery of the true Shadow-Touched individual in the Vozhd situation, a weaver by the name of Aylora. Not long after, the confirmed bachelor finally yielded to the pressure of his mother, elder sister Doreen, and younger sister Dianna to begin courting his third cousin, Gabriella Lomasa. A marriage contract was signed by her brother, Norran Lomasa, but the young noblewoman refused it, choosing to pursue her heart after a then relatively unknown nobleman by the name of Duhnen Seamel. Though wounded by her rejection, Arturo refused to enforce the contract, freeing her of her obligations to marry him. A few months later, Damiante Nillu's niece, Sahna Nillu, brought her also recently-rejected sister Jahna to River Turn, placing her in Arturo's care and reportedly match-making the pair into a courtship that ultimately culminated in a grand wedding at Aerie Heights performed by his priest brother Rasano. Tragedy brought a new page to the life history of Arturo when his father took ill and died, leaving the new Viscount to wear the mantle of Count of Talonspread in his father's place. Taking up governance of the family, Arturo has found himself in the midst of a maelstrom of various internal and external conflicts, beginning with a reportedly massive family argument during the funeral. Since his ascendancy, more events followed rapidly, with Arturo rising to the post of Imperial Watermaster, only to see that post lowered from a Council Seat to fall beneath the supervision of another Councillor after the departure of Talus Kahar XIV and restructuring under Oren Nillu, the newly appointed Regent. As 625 crossed its midpoint, Arturo experienced both joy and tragedy, with the announcement of his wife's first pregnancy followed by the suicide of his eldest brother Corriden. =Badges= JTS Faction Point Value of Badges 78 category:Chiaroscuro Characters category:Pages with Badges category:Book of the White Tree category:Saga Legends